Champions League, the only time this infamous record was shattered was
three decades ago.
Arsene Wenger who was elated to win on Saturday is optimistic that the
Gunners and the Blues will surmount their obstacles today and he's
confident they'll do it in style.
But not even his optimism can curb the cloud of negativity already
circulating as Arsenal look forward to re-writing history.
The Boss last night emphasized on the importance of today's Porto
match and charged his lads to overlook the criticism they've been
facing from their critics and instead ensure they repeat what their
seniors did way back in 1971, when they beat Hadjik Split after losing
away from home.
It might be argued that "a lot of water has passed under the bridge"
ever since that encounter but so has soccer evolved and the Gunners
know fully well that even though they have everything to prove, they certainly cannot be labelled as the underdogs.
Arsene Wenger also acknowledged the importance of Cesc Fabregas but
he's convinced that his teammates are more than equal to the
task, and are capable of setting the Emirates on fire in today's UEFA
Champions League make/mar encounter with the team from Portugal.
Wenger said: "We have a good opportunity, we have good chances to make
history. We are very young but we are in a position where we want to
go for both, not in a position where we can make any choice. We want
to do well in both competitions.
"To score away from home is still a massive advent in UEFA rules, that
is why we are confident we can do it. We have scored, that is a
massive difference.
"To lose 1-0 would have been a terrible result. It's completely
different, we know it's a tricky game. But we believe we can do it, we
have good confidence."
Arsenal will be without some established names once again, but this
time the gaffer is confident that his preffered replacements (Sol for
Gallas and Nasri for Fabregas) will deliver the goods and at the right
time.
Almunia is confident Porto will have to go through him (teams do that
a lot anyway) if they are to have their way at the Emirates.
I implore every gooner to support the underfire goalie not because
he's the same old Almunia, but for the fact that he's our first
choice, the best Arsene and the Gunners can boast of, so it's only
logical we give him our undivided support and avoid the boo's for as
long as we can.
Our biggest problem will be our attack, but all the same there's
absolutely nothing we can do but hope our Nikky boy doesn't forget his
scoring boots and flair at home like he did on Saturday.
In his interview Bendtner insisted that we haven't seen the best of
him and attributed his mistakes to injuries and luck.
"I have just returned from injury, and overall things could not be any
better for me. The most important thing on Saturday was not, whether I
scored or not, but that we won as a team.
"I felt that the Arsenal fans really got behind me and supported me,
because I tried to give everything I had. I was just not lucky with my
finishes in that game, but sometimes it is like that."
Wenger also shared the youngster's optimism "You cannot fault his
confidence. He is one who can take remarks and criticism and analyse
it without been offended. He has not fooled himself. He knows that he
could have scored.
"People take a lot from the negative side of his confidence, but he
has a positive side as well. He can face his problems and analyse it
and change his behaviour.
"Nicklas is on the way up in his overall game contribution to the team
performance, but he missed big chances on Saturday.
"It's something that is needed for any young striker, he isolates the
factor as to why he missed and gets it right into the next game. I'm
convinced that he is really improving at the moment.
"He has good mental strength, I'm sure it will not diminish his desire
or confidence to go into the next game. I've spoken about it with him,
but I don't think it's necessary to say here what we spoke about.
Arsene Wenger also maintained that our non-practice of penalties won't
affect the team's chances of going through and stated in unequivocal
terms why he steered clear of practising shoot-outs even when the
probability of the game been decided on spot-kicks can't be ruled out.
The Boss concluded that any scenario that qualifies us will be well recieved by him.
Go Gunners. . .
